No Reason
by rhygell
Summary: Tasuki confronts Hotohori and engages him to a fight. Nope, this is not TasukixHotohori, but rather Tasuki vs. Hotohori.
1. No Reason

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**title:** No Reason  
**genre:** Romance  
**rating:** a tame PG-13/Teen :D  
**pairings:** several yaoi ones! (duh)  
**warning:** Yaoi. Slash. You should have known, ne?  
**summary:** Tasuki confronts Hotohori.  
**disclaimers:** I don't claim that I own Fushigi Yuugi. That's just wishful thinking on my part. I got the title from a Weiss Kreuz ... owned by Koyasu Takehito-sama. lies prostrates on the ground I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy! No money's involved, or infringement of trademarks or all that drivel. I made this for fun. The idea's mine, though, but if the ideas expressed here mirror your own ... well, you know what they say about great minds.  
**notes:**  
---> Okies. Just wanted another FY fic to 'pollute' other people. Hnnn ... Tasuki's birthday just passed (when I started this fic, a year ago), along with Hotohori's ... tanjoubi omedetou! hehehe this should be interesting ...  
--> There's nothing better for a yaoi fan, that is than a deluge of bishounen in an anime series virtually devoid of females. So, if there're no catfights girls against girls, nasty business, bullfights would be very interesting indeed ...  
-> Or would they be called cockfights instead:P  
> Dedicated to my Nuriko-sama! Ah, you deserve so much better than a foul-mouthed bandit and a narcissistic emperor! Not to mention a dense food-oriented bimbo:D Maybe you'd be better off with a certain blond shogun ... ne? ducks the sudden shower of rotten objects  
Hotohori: Foul-mouthed bandit? OOC smirk  
Tasuki: Narcissistic emperor? guffaw  
Author: Yare, yare waai, waai, Ban vs. Juubei? The hell!  
Miaka: wanders in Are? Blond shogun ... Nakago? blinks rapidly Nuriko! Why didn't you tell me that you have a thing for Nakago? So you mean you're over Hotohori? That's nice! blabbers on  
Author: smiles sweetly at the two seishi Guys, you know, Miaka has a kid by Taka now. I don't think she can be a Miko through that ... winks  
Minna-san, review, please? Arigatou!

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A soft, hesitant knock made the distracted Emperor look up, away from the view offered by the window. A shower of red sparkles lit up the heavens outside, accompanied by sounds of merriment. Though dawn was only a few hours away, the Festival of the Stars continued, the people intent in celebrating and enjoying. 

"Who is it?" Hotohori asked, freeing his hair of the ceremonial bun. The full moon shone through the open window, the cooling breeze fluttering through his hair. It was late, and yet his subjects were still out in the streets, making most of the annual event. He felt a pang of envy shoot up his body. The Suzaku no Miko had been part of the throng, earlier that night, and he couldn't be there with her. what an utterly foolish sentiment.

Deep in his musings, the deep voice answered, pulling him out of his reverie. "Anou ... Hotohori-sama? It's Tasuki." There was a pause. "I wish to speak to you, Heika-sama, if it's possible." His halting speech might be because of wine, but it could also be the fruit of trying to be polite to the Emperor. After all, there was some embarrassing scenes wherein he thought that his fellow seishi was a woman.

A slight frown marred Hotohori's features as he glanced back the window. He could think of no reason why Tasuki would want to speak to him. "Of course, Tasuki, you may come in." A fleeting thought with the sound of reason struck him, yet it was such a farfetched idea that Hotohori paid no more attention to it.

The fiery redhead entered, chin up in an almost defiant arrogance. He bowed deeply, almost mockingly. Hotohori's frown deepened. He did not comment.

"Make yourself comfortable. There's no need to bow. We have the same status, being the Suzaku shichiseishi." He busied his hands with arranging the disarrayed papers on his desk. He wished on Suzaku that it wasn't so, but he was scared of what might transpire between him and Tasuki. Chichiri had warned him of the confrontation, and so had Miaka - in her own way - but that did not give him any comfort at all. He schooled his expression to mild dispassion, taking a deep breath to steel himself.

Tasuki had his arms crossed, standing up in a quarrelsome pose, staring straight at the Emperor's eyes, incensed and not hiding it. The tense silence could almost be cut with a dull knife.

There was no harm in delay ... and there was no gain in it, likewise. Bracing himself for the inevitable, Hotohori decided, against intuition, to break the ice. "I understand that you wish to talk about something of utmost importance, yes? What is it that bothers you, Tasuki?"

The seishi's cold sneering veneer gave way to barely contained violence, flickering briefly to a decadence of sorts. Hotohori had interpreted the message; the sudden thought was a correct one, as the problem concerned both he and Tasuki, and a third Suzaku Shichiseishi ...

It was only a name, and it came unsurprisingly, but the impact it wrought on both seishi were obvious and profound. "Nuriko."

The Emperor let out a long and almost silent sigh; the burnished golden eyes glowed in the dim lighting. The former bandit's hands, on his sides, were clutching fistfuls of the black fabric of his clothes, to keep them away from the iron fan hanging on its halberd on his back.

Tasuki's mouth opened, working soundlessly while the other seishi patiently waited. After a few swallows, the redhead spoke. "I ... Argh, I friggin' love him. So there. It's out now."

Thoughts rushed past his blurry mind; things he so wanted to say, but didn't. Hotohori nodded, eyes closed. "He knows, I suppose. Have you told him?" he whispered, as if speaking of secrets before a crowd. He dreaded the answer he could predict.

The former bandit's reply was just as soft, his eyes liquid brass. "Hai." The unsaid honorific rang in the air.

The Emperor nodded once more. He took a deep, calming breath. Sorrowful golden eyes met glaring brown. "It must have taken a lot of courage. Congratulations." There was no mockery. Hotohori waited for a few more moments before hesitantly speaking. "Is that all?"

Scornful, the redhead looked at him with a mixture of triumphant contempt and bitter amusement. "I should have bloody known that you wouldn't fucking ask for what the hell happened."

Hotohori didn't even bother to tidy up the language; it wasn't his business. Tasuki could talk however he wanted, to whomever he wanted, about anything he wanted. He wasn't the fiery seishi's mother hen.

"I'm not in the position to pry."

"You could at least try, fuck it," he said scathingly. "Why the hell not? Afraid to hear something you don't friggin' want to hear?"

It struck a nerve. Long fingers tightened their hold on the scrolls in his hands, but Hotohori maintained his unruffled veneer; a handy action in Court. However the truth grated, he would not let himself to be goaded. Not about this. The Emperor was silent.

Tasuki seemed to have lost his patience; he advanced, banging a trembling fist down the ornate table. "You are so fucking full of yourself, damn you! If you won't fucking ask, fine! I'll bloody tell you anyway!" He hunkered down, eye to eye with the impassive seishi. "He refused me! He fucking refused me! And do you know why the hell he did that?"

Hotohori politely held his gaze, but did not speak. The redhead did not wait for a reply. "It's because he loved you, goddamn it! He bloody loves you!"

He knew it. Chichiri's warnings came back at him, with Miaka's hints. Nuriko's playful half-meant jokes had told him, too, about the fire-wielding seishi, but he had ignored it. Now, it was too late. It couldn't be ignored, couldn't be pushed aside, and Hotohori was unsure if he could take on a confrontation.

"He told me he couldn't love me," the redhead was saying now, tears welling up in his dilated eyes. "He told me his heart belonged to another, someone who still haven't told him a proper yes or no. There was nothing I could friggin' do about it. Bullshit." A manic glint lighted his crazed eyes. Hotohori bit his lip warily. This was getting out of hand.

"What do you want me to do?" The words rose up unbidden. Suddenly, a part of his neck glowed a bright red, and a split second later, the chair he had been sitting on was ashes. The other seishi held the tessen with two hands.

"I want you to fight," Tasuki answered with a cruel smile. Heat waves emanated from the iron fan. Seeing the danger, the Emperor ran out of the room, away from the Inner Palace, and out onto the chilly night. Flames could be dangerous inside the buildings, so he led the livid seishi to the place where abundant water could be found. The ponds, near the living chambers of the Suzaku Shichiseishi.

"Fight me, Saihitei of Kounan!" The redhead summoned a pack of phantom wolves. With the help of his chi, Hotohori had dispatched the illusion, but he refused to draw his weapon on his fellow seishi. "Fight, bastard Emperor! Fight, fuck it!" Hotohori dodged several fireballs that followed his every move.

It took a while to sink in, but now, the battle - a rather one-sided one - had moved, and was in one of the more ornate Palace gardens, part of the compound of the shichiseishi. The commotion was starting to attact the expected cluster of people: the remaining shichiseishi, and the Miko.

"Hotohori!" Miaka exclaimed, seeing him running around, evading the pursuing phantoms and flames. "Tasuki! What's happening?" Tears flowed down her cheeks; poor, confused, distraught Suzaku no Miko. "Why are you acting strange? Why are you fighting?"

"Miaka-chan, it's not safe to be here, no da," Chichiri tried to cajole her, but she resisted. A fireball hit the protective barrier of the monk's magic and sizzled to nothingness harmlessly.

"Yadda! I won't go until they stop!" the Miko cried almost incoherently. "Hotohori! Tasuki!"

"What's this ruckus?" a low alto queried amusedly. A familiar figure garbed in silks emerged from near Miaka's chambers. "Mattaku, did Tamahome dump Gen-chan in a pool again? They're so noisy, I can't sleep - " Finally getting a good long look of the situation, the purple-haired seishi stepped back, distressed. Rosy violet eyes went wide with shock and righteous fury. "What the ... Tasuki! What are you ..." He saw the other fighting seishi and gasped. "Hotohori-sama!"

"Ah, Nuriko-san! Yokatta!" Chiriko breathed a sigh of relief. "Could you please stop them before they could hurt each other?"

Miaka gave a yelp when a vagrant flame singed part of the Emperor's robes. She whimpered, but there was nothing she could do. Tamahome, who had just wandered in, goggled at the scene, uncomprehending.

"What the ...!"

"I don't understand why this would happen," Mitsukake opined. "But it does not bide well if Tasuki were to kill the Koutei-Heika." He looked at the two seishi again, wincing. "We have to do something."

"Fight like a man, damn you!" Tasuki cursed as he pursued the fleeting seishi. "Are you afraid of me, teme!"

Without his mask, the blue-haired monk's face was pure anxiety. A single grave garnet eye stared at all of them. "Nuriko-kun, no da ... You're the only one who can stop them, na no da."

Nuriko stared at the transpiring battle, blinking back a wave of tears. "What ...? Is it ... Are they ... Am I ...?" he gestured to the combating figures. The monk understood him perfectly; he nodded. "I'm afraid so, no da."

"What are you talking about!" Miaka demanded, befuddled. "I don't understand!"

"Hotohori-sama ..." Nuriko whispered, distraught. His voice caught; he shook his head violently, choking on his tears. "Tasuki, kono baka yarou! Dame!"

"This can't be a Seiryuu ruse, na, Chichiri?" Tamahome asked, half-jokingly. He grimaced. "Eh, yarou, that baka's really serious! If he keeps that up, he's going to kill the Emperor!"

"I think that's the idea, Tamahome," Mitsukake replied grimly, watching as two of the phantom wolves bit at Hotohori's calves. The seishi cried out in pain, but continued running. His sword remained sheathed on his hip.

Chiriko shook his head in wonder. "It's not a Seiryuu plot, Tamahome-san. Hora." He pointed to the glowing symbol on the Emperor's neck, and the bright light hindered by clothing on the redhead's arm. Their own characters were dormant, though. "The same as Nuriko-san. So, it means that -"

The sound of Tasuki's voice halted Chiriko's explaination abruptly. "Fight me for the man you don't deserve, you narcissistic ass! Fight me for Nuriko!"

A breeze carried the heat of Tasuki's attack to the shielded group. Thin gowns fluttering, the willow burned a blinding scarlet on Nuriko's chest. "Don't be foolish, Tasuki! Yamette kure yo, oi!"

Horror etched on the Miko's face, as she stared at Nuriko. "Yadda ... zettai ni yadda ..."

"They're fighting ... for of you?" Tamahome scratched his head, also looking at the crying seishi. "That's weird."

"It's a one-sided match, Tamahome," the healer reminded. "The Emperor is not fighting back. And Tasuki is fighting because of Nuriko, not for Nuriko."

Green hair swung as he mulled the thought over, then the seishi shrugged. "If you say so. Tonikaku, minna-san ...?"

Several pairs of eyes and a lone garnet eyes peered at him. "Eh?"

"Anou ... I was just wondering ..." Tamahome whipped out a notebook. "Let's place bets on them! Who's betting on Tasuki?"

Nuriko clobbered him unconscious. "Yarou, it's not time for that!" He turned to the fighting seishis and screamed. "Tasuki, baka yarou, yamero! Hotohori-sama! Daijobu na no?"

"This is bad, no da," Chichiri murmured. "The shield is not going to last forever." He distracted Nuriko with a light tap on the shoulder. "Nuriko-kun, you have to stop them, na no da."

His lips trembling, the pale seishi stared at his companions despodently. "I'm trying, but I can't! I can't reach him, can't you see? I can't stop them anymore!"

"I don't want to fight, Tasuki," Hotohori conceded, much to Tasuki's contempt. He sat down by the pond, head bowed. Tamahome slept on, Chiriko's brow wrinkled in a thoughtful expression, Mitsukake rubbed his temples, while Chichiri watched aghast. Miaka quivered, holding Nuriko's hands.

"I knew it," the redhead replied, full of himself. "I fucking knew it! You don't friggin' deserve him, you bastard!" Tasuki gestured with his tessen. "Do you know how many nights he cried himself to sleep because of you?" His tone was accusatory. "Fuck it, ever since I knew him, there wasn't a night I didn't bloody hear him cry! Why the hell do you do that to him, kono yarou! You don't deserve him!"

Sobs racked Nuriko's body. "Tasuki, dame ... yamette kudasai ..." The rest of the shichiseishi were transfixed.

"He loves you, I could take that. But that wasn't the friggin' point!" Tasuki continued with his indictments, with an accusing finger. "You don't reciprocate his feelings for you! Hell, I could have lived with the knowledge that he loves another, but only if he deserves that someone!" A volley of flames illuminated him, the level of his chi escalating.

"All I wanted," Tasuki continued, taking a small step towards the silent Emperor. "Was for Nuriko to be happy. If he doesn't want me, then bloody hell, fine. Whatever. But he never was happy with you! I'd bet he'd never been with you, damn it." They were a foot away now.

"I don't understand what he sees in you! You're just a bloody unfeeling prick who's blind to the person who really loves you! Why can't you even appreciate that, teme!" He lounged at the unmoving figure, stopping a centimeter away from the flesh. "Why you, and not me?"

Hotohori's face was an expressionless mask. Slowly, he shook his head. "Let's stop this, please, Tasuki. Onegai."

"Naze da?" he asked harshly, on the verge of summoning more phantom wolves, the tip of his tessen aflame.

The Emperor raised his eyes, burnished amber perceiving the shielded group a safe distance away from them. "Kikoenai kara?" He looked at Tasuki directly. "Nuriko's crying."

His breath caught in his chest, and an invisible punch landed on his gut. He dropped to his knees reflexively, burying his face in his hands.

"Let's stop this, Tasuki. I don't want to add to his misery." Hotohori gave a sardonic laugh. "What I've done ... or what I've not done was enough, I think."

"Fuzaken na, chikusho!" Honey brown eyes glared. "You can do something for him."

The Emperor shook his head. "I'm the Emperor of Kounan. I can't act however I want, for the happiness of two people ..." he trailed off. "I have to think of the greater good of the country, even at the cost of my welfare."

"Then set him free," Tasuki said softly, tucking the heavy iron fan back in its halberd. "Let Nuriko go. He would not - could not - love me otherwise. Onegai." Tasuki pursed his lips malevolently, as if to spit. "Allow me to show him the love you don't have for him."

"Very well, then." He raised his voice so that the others would hear him clearly. "I release Nuriko from the bonds that hold him to me." He faced the redhead. "Is that enough, Tasuki?"

"Arigato gozaimash'ta, Koutei-Heika-sama."

Nuriko's tear-streaked face blanched as he heard the words; he stared unbelievingly at the pair.

He started to turn away but he froze when he heard the Emperor's voice.

"Tasuki," Hotohori whispered, looking straight at Nuriko all the while. "Tasuki ... do me a favor." He took a deep breath, certain that the former bandit was listening attentively. His fist clenched around his robes. "Take care of him when you go to Hokkankoku ... I ... couldn't be there." Something in the redhead's eyes flickered. "Onegai."

"Un."

"And ... " Unable to hide the trembling in his voice, the Emperor didn't bother with any pretenses. "Onegai ... Love him ... Take care of him the way that I couldn't .. Care for him in the way that I'm not allowed to ... Show him the love that I've hidden for so long."

Tasuki whipped his head at the confession. "What the hell!" He pointed to the sobbing seishi. "Are you stupid! All the time ... All the while ... you love him, too! But why weren't you saying anything, teme!"

"Because you were right," he aceded, standing up, making his way to the rest shichiseishi without a backward glance. Tasuki saw a forlorn smile on the Emperor's lips. "I don't deserve Nuriko, or his love for me. Yet, in my weakness, I knowingly bound him to my side. I know his pain." He paused just outside of the range of the redhead's hearing. "I share it."

Tasuki just stared at him wonderingly, moving to his side to see his expression. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Why should I lie?" He shrugged. "So, do you promise?"

The redhead closed his eyes; nodded. Hotohori let out a sigh. "Arigatou, Tasuki." His tone took a steely cast. "It is done, by Suzaku." At that, the Emperor headed off to his chambers, skillfully ignoring the other seishi and Miaka.

Tasuki could only watch him walk away, a finger pressed to the receeding ji on his arm.

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Author's notes: 

>3:16 AM 4/8/2005 Waai! Ne, should I write a sequel to this, or something? It's too ... I don't know.  
Shorter than my usual ones, isn't it? It didn't even reach 3000 words ... oh well.  
Comments are drastically needed. Sankyuu!

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	2. Translations, Whatnot

Yet again, I have to translate. I'm sorry for using so many fangirl Japanese in my fics; it makes me imagine that THEY are speaking in Japanese, and the words are just the subtitles. Mmmmhhmm. :D 

Yaoi - male/male action. My god, why are you reading this if you don't know what yaoi is!

sama - a honorific attached to someone one esteems highly.

Tanjoubi omedetou! - Happy birthday!

bishounen - literally, 'pretty boy'.

shogun - I am using this word in Fushigi Yuugi terms, okay? There, it refers to a 'battle general'.

ne - hey, right

OOC - (not Japanese, I know, but hey.) Out of character.

Yare, yare - lay it off/never mind/oh well.

Waai - cute happy expression.

Ban vs. Juubei - this is just a seiyuu-oriented thing. Ban's seiyuu is Kanna Nobutoshi (Tasuki) while Juubei's seiyuu is Koyasu Takehito (Hotohori). Yeah, I know I didn't have to explain that. :D

Are? - sort of dazed "What?".

Minna-san - everyone.

Arigatou (gozaimash'ta) - Thank you!

Suzaku no Miko - Maiden of Suzaku Miaka.

Anou ... - Umm ...

Heika-sama - an address to the Emperor

Suzaku Shichiseishi - The Seven Star Warriors of Suzaku. Tamahome, Hotohori, Nuriko, Chichiri, Tasuki, Mitsukake, Chiriko.

seishi - star warrior.

Hai - Yes.

(na) no da - a phrase usually said by Chichiri. If you've played Final Fantasy, it's just like those moogles saying, "Kupo.". Gosh, I suck at explaining.

chan - an endearment.

Yadda! - No!

Mattaku - damn.

san - Ms./Mr./Mrs.

Yokatta! - Good/Thank God!

Koutei-Heika - the emperor.

teme - damn (you).

Tasuki, kono baka yarou! Dame! - Tasuki, you stupid idiot! Don't!

yarou - curse word.

baka - stupid/idiot.

Hora - look.

Yamette kure yo, oi! - Stop it, oi!

zettai ni - absolutely.

Tonikaku - Anyway.

yamero - stop.

Daijobu na no? - Are you okay?

kun - honorific

kudasai/onegai - please.

Naze da? - Why?

Kikoenai kara? - Can't you hear it?

Fuzaken na, chikusho! - Stop joking, shit!

Un - Yes.


End file.
